I like the Freedom Group almost as much as Lola likes okra. What Cerberus’ conglomerate did to Marlin—gutting staff and moving production inside Remington—shouldn’t happen to a dog. The resulting guns are dogs. And then there’s the fact that Cerberus bowed to pressure from the California teacher’s union after the Newtown spree killing and jettisoned Bushmaster, the brand of firearm Adam Lanza used to murder 26 people. Oh wait. Cerberus only said they were gonna ditch Bushmaster. They didn’t. Which pleases me (somewhat) but pisses off gun control advocates something chronic. Check out this broadside from left-leaning real estate maven John Rosenthal . . .
Many successful businesses benefit from vertical integration and supply chain management. By controlling markets and inputs of a product you can limit competition, keep costs low and profits high. But when it comes to the health industry, the idea of hospitals having an interest in deadly firearms and ammunition, a major source of injury and death, makes even the most hardened Wall Street executives feel uncomfortable.
Cerberus, the Freedom Group’s overlords, also owns Steward Health Care System. Geddit? The big bad company sells stuff that hurts people and then fixes them! As for hardened Wall Street executives feeling uncomfortable about that—or anything other then losing their bonus or spending time in Club Fed—well that’s just silly.
But there are people, Huffington Post readers especially, who just eat this you-know-what up. You can almost hear them calling out please sir, can I have some more! Of course you can! Lots!
As the owner of one of the largest networks of hospitals in the New England area, Cerberus, acting through Steward Health, is treating many gunshot victims. Nationally, 16.5 percentof all spinal cord injuries are caused by gunshot injuries. Patients who are shot four or less times spend a median of 2.5-3 days in the hospital. Patients with five or more wounds, or three or more anatomic regions, have a median length of stay of 8 days. This adds up to quite a hefty hospital bill.
According to USA Today and a study by Ted Miller for Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, medical care for fatal gunshot wounds cost an average of $28,700 per patient in 2010. When you add in non-fatal injuries, this price tag reaches an aggregate cost of $3.2 billion annually. In 2010, $1.4 billion of the total gunshot wound health costs were paid by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid programs. But society pays more for a gunshot wound than just health care costs. Miller’s study estimated that in 2010 the government and, ergo, the American people lost $5.4 billion dollars of tax revenue by gunshot victims missing work, $4.7 billion was paid in court costs, $180 million in mental health care costs for gunshot victims, $224 million in insurance claim processing, and $133 million spent in responding to shootings. However, the cost to the people and relying on government handouts seems to be of little concern to Cerberus. In 2007, the company purchased Chrysler. Shortly thereafter, Chrysler declared bankruptcy and received billions of dollars in bailout money.
You won’t hear me arguing about that last bit. But c’mon, this is the price of freedom people. Yes, I said it. You can’t have a country where citizens have a right to keep and bear arms without financial implications. Here’s the kicker: it’s a net positive!
As our Bruce Krafft has pointed out, firearms save money by protecting innocent life and sending bad guys to the great jailhouse in the sky. Bruce did the math (conservatively) and came up with a figure of $1,000,000,000,000 per year. For the zero-impaired that’s one trillion dollars. That’s the kind of money even a real estate tycoon can respect. Or not.
Meanwhile the killing and gun sales just keep mounting. While there was talk of selling Freedom Group after the Newtown, Conn. massacre, and embarrassing news stories linking Bushmaster and Steward Health, it appears now that it was only PR talk and that Cerberus and their “family” of gun companies will stay in the highly profitable and integrated “merchant of death” and “provider of health care” businesses. Profits before people seems to be the Cerberus Capital way.
Again, I’m not a huge fan of The Freedom Group. But Steve Feinberg’s firearms folks are engaged in a capitalist enterprise in a capitalist country producing perfectly legal products. It’s up to the market to decide whether or not those products have value, and how much value they have.
By singling TFG out for approbation Rosenthal is attempting to create “value” in the company’s political destruction, and the elimination of the civilian firearms business in general. God forbid we should ever see the day when politics interferes with the business of Americans exercising their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to armed self-defense. Oh wait . . .
You see this is what happens in the ghetto, he shouldn’t have looked at him funny.
What they failed to research were the actual types of gun used in crimes. As you all know, only <400 rifles/shotguns are used to kill people. Meanwhile over 7000 handguns are used to kill people. Why is that fact so important, because Freedom Group only sells Rifles and Shotguns with the exception of PARA USA, which sells 1911 pistols which are fairly pricey and not used by criminals.
So ummm, essentially this story of owning a hospital and firearms company is a joke.
A few years back (’70s) The Catholic Diocese of St. Louis discovered, to their embarrassment, that they owned a major interest in the only porn movie house in town, the Fine Arts. This is pre-VCR, for you youngsters, so you had to go out and consume your smut in public!
Point is, unless you go to a LOT of trouble, if you have money tied up in paper, you probably don’t know the half of what you own.
Nothing will prevent Rosenthal or Krafft from using one of Cerebus’ hospitals in the event that they are shot. So what’s their gripe?
Regardless of the firearm model which is not what is really important here but missed
by some posters are two issues:
1. What is good for the police is good for the citizen. No double standard need apply.
Either revoke the CCW Permit from anyone including Law Enforcement who have accidents with firearms or write it off as an accident and send the gun owner or firearms handler to a firearms safety course.
2. Always Always make sure a firearm is unloaded before cleaning by visually checking,
As far as we are concerned here in my home all firearms are always loaded unless you unload and visually check said firearm to insure it is unloaded.
Well, the police are special because they can buy things we can’t, and they can buy those things because they’re special, and they’re special because they can buy things we can’t, and they can buy those things because their special, and they’re special because they can buy things we can’t, and they can buy those things because they’re special…
Wait, why are police supposed to be special again?
My pistol cleaning routine begins with looking through the magwell like a telescope.
As someone who works in the healthcare industry for a hospital system in a major metropolitan area, I can attest to anyone that we do not make a profit on the majority of the patients treated for gun shot wounds. Most of the patients in the area who suffer gun shot wounds come from the poorest areas of our city. As such, they have Medicaid coverage (Medicaid is for the poor, Medicare is for age 65+) if they have any coverage at all. Medicaid pays so little that we lose money on the majority of patients we treat, especially outpatients, which most gun shot victims are. If they do not have Medicaid or other coverage, they are considered Self Pay. On Self Pay patients, we usually end up writing off the charges to charity or bad debt. This means we get zero dollars for our treatment.
I realize that this anti doesn’t care about facts or know how finance works in a hospital system. This was about the continued and sustained demonization of gun owners, manufacturers and advocates.
I’d like to see Hickok45 play with this one.
The crime problem in Cleveland is at last put to an end.
It is very displeasing that we here in Missouri will accept theirs but they will not accept ours.
You mean Bush did a bailout. Dont tell the anti-obama crowd…they only think there was one government bailout.
“deadly firearms and ammunition, a major source of injury and death”
Should’ve been written as “life saving firearms and ammunition, a major source for preventing injury and death” by criminals to law-abiding citizens.
“The resulting guns are dogs”
No comparison. False metaphor. Dogs are good (and usually more reliable than today’s Marlins). Don’t you own and like your dogs?
The term background checks is a very fluid one. A true background check involves more than just a cursory glance at a list or a phone call to the state police.
To have one’s background investigated takes weeks or even months and costs a fortune. There are not enough people or connected databases to perform background checks at a level which would ever satisfy the Left. Indeed the WNY shooter held a Secret clearance granted in July 2013, so much for background checks.
The result would be years of delay while you waited for them to approve you. And of course it would face renewal and review.
The 4473 and related call to the NCIS is far from infallible but does represent a background check of some kind. I’m not sure why the media insists on telling people there are no checks. Many non gun owners thing there is nothing being ran now.
Christopher Dorner was a police officer, if he wigged out then how are background checks supposed to protect us in the first place? Let’s start with really clamping down on revolving door justice systems and the plea bargaining that goes on.
This is the same city that had Ariel Castro driving a school bus. Not the brightest bulbs in the box.
With my 6″ Ruger GP100 .357 magnum revolver, recoil isn’t bad even with full-power 125 grain defense loads.
Max – well said but don’t hold your breath for a response. Still, I think Shannon is attractive and just in need of some good lovin’ to put her talents to better use.
I plan on fighting the “terrorism” to which he refers with a Glock 27 or 23. I’ll fight my way to a long gun, and switch to an AR or Mossberg 930 if given the opportunity. On duty, I’ll fight the “terrorism” referenced herein with a Smith .40 cal whilst en route to a de-milled M16A1. My choice of personal firearms is also effective against knives, clubs and physical force which are used in a great deal of violent confrontations.
Mr. Brady has a right to fight the terrorism of gun violence with his own cowardice and a 911 call. As history has shown, cellular telephones are not effective methods of combating gun violence. In fact, those who would engage in gun violence have a clear preference for “Gun Free Zones.”
Should Mr. Brady develop an inkling of intelligence, he is welcome to choose an effective weapon such as a concealed handgun. I support that right, so long as it is exercised in a responsible manner. I also support Mr. Brady’s right to free speech, despite the fact that his screed is morally objectionable. There. I support freedom and Mr. Brady does not. Funny, that doesn’t make me feel like a terrorist.
Right……..if this is the case you can now label the Ft. Hood shootings terrorism and not just work place violence. Like it should have been to start with.
Slinging a long gun over the shoulder in certain environments (while perfectly legal) can still have adverse consequences in regards to the goal desired. Smart and effective should be the standard tactic used against the filthy, commie, statist, gun (freedom) grabbers.
Wait, somebody actually pulled the trigger during an acidental shooting? The gun just didn’t go off? Also, what RSO puts anybody, much less a child, on the firing line while people are downrange? Not that the kid is blameless, but dammit, you have to expect children to have the thoughtlessness of children.
Thanks, Jim. While I don’t appreciate all the TSA policies, I have never had un unprofessional experience with an officer. And yes they are officers/agents, that term doesn’t only mean peace officers (law enforcement).